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Molecular and morphological analyses clarify species delimitation in section Costatae and reveal Betula buggsii sp. nov....

Published in Annals of botany

Delineating closely related and morphologically similar species is difficult. Here, we integrate morphology, genetics, ploidy and geography to resolve species and subspecies boundaries in four trees of section Costatae (genus Betula): Betula ashburneri, B. costata, B. ermanii and B. utilis, as well as multiple subspecies and polyploid races. We gen...

A time-honoured technique goes underground to investigate root drought tolerance. A commentary on: 'Root pressure-volume...

Published in Annals of botany

Root pressure-volume curve traits capture rootstock drought tolerance.

Published in Annals of botany

Living root tissues significantly constrain plant water uptake under drought, but we lack functional traits to feasibly screen diverse plants for variation in the drought responses of these tissues. Water stress causes roots to lose volume and turgor, which are crucial to root structure, hydraulics and growth. Thus, we hypothesized that root pressu...

Phylotranscriptomics of Theaceae: generic-level relationships, reticulation and whole-genome duplication.

Published in Annals of botany

Theaceae, with three tribes, nine genera and more than 200 species, are of great economic and ecological importance. Recent phylogenetic analyses based on plastomic data resolved the relationships among the three tribes and the intergeneric relationships within two of those tribes. However, generic-level relationships within the largest tribe, Thee...

Mixed pollination system and floral signals of Paepalanthus (Eriocaulaceae): insects and geitonogamy ensure high reprodu...

Published in Annals of botany

Eriocaulaceae exhibit a great variety of floral traits associated with insect (e.g. nectariferous structures) and wind pollination (unisexual flowers, exposed sexual organs and small pollen grains), as well as the 'selfing syndrome' (small flowers, short distance between stigma and anthers, and temporal overlap of male and female phases). Paepalant...

Diversity, phylogeny and evolution of the rapidly evolving genus Psidium L. (Myrtaceae, Myrteae).

Published in Annals of botany

Psidium is the fourthth largest genus of Myrtaceae in the Neotropics. Psidium guajava is widely cultivated in the tropics for its edible fruit. It is commercially under threat due to the disease guava decline. Psidium cattleyanum is one of the 100 most invasive organisms in the world. Knowledge of the phylogenetic relationships within Psidium is po...

Comparing the contents, functions and neonicotinoid take-up between floral and extrafloral nectar within a single specie...

Published in Annals of botany

Many angiosperms can secrete both floral (FN) and extrafloral (EFN) nectar. However, much remains unclear about how EFN and FN differ in secretion, composition and ecological function, especially when both FN and EFN are secreted on flowers of the same species. Hemerocallis citrina flowers secrete both FN and EFN. The FN and EFN traits including vo...

Leaf phosphorus fractionation in rice to understand internal phosphorus-use efficiency.

Published in Annals of botany

Phosphorus (P) availability is often limiting for rice (Oryza sativa) production. Improving internal P-use efficiency (PUE) is crucial to sustainable food production, particularly in low-input systems. A critical aspect of PUE in plants, and one that remains poorly understood, is the investment of leaf P in different chemical P fractions (nucleic a...

The Waiting Room Hypothesis revisited by orchids: were orchid mycorrhizal fungi recruited among root endophytes?

Published in Annals of botany

As in most land plants, the roots of orchids (Orchidaceae) associate with soil fungi. Recent studies have highlighted the diversity of the fungal partners involved, mostly within Basidiomycotas. The association with a polyphyletic group of fungi collectively called rhizoctonias (Ceratobasidiaceae, Tulasnellaceae and Serendipitaceae) is the most fre...

Differential modulation of the lipoxygenase cascade during typical and latent Pectobacterium atrosepticum infections.

Published in Annals of botany

Plant diseases caused by Pectobacterium atrosepticum are often accompanied by extensive rot symptoms. In addition, these bacteria are able to interact with host plants without causing disease for long periods, even throughout several host plant generations. There is, to date, no information on the comparative physiology/biochemistry of symptomatic ...